The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1887-05-05
THE PRESIDENTS MAIL.

The presidents mail contains TN
average of from 100 to $50 letters a
day from persons whose claims for pen
sions are pending before the depart
ment. These people address the chief
executive in belief. probably, that the
pension Office is next door to the white
Shouse, and that theirs is the only letter
he may receive in a week.
About One-half of these letters are
sent to Mrs. Cleveland. The writers
in such cases are usually the wives or
daughters of the petitioners. Some of
them bestow upon Mrs. Cleveland such
titles as Her Mejesty," Empress"
and other appellations of ROYALTY.
There are few of the letters that do not
contain some touches of human nature.
They are evidently written in the SIN
cere belief that Mrs. Cleveland will as
sist them il her symplthies can only be
aroused. With this object in view 4
great mass of deta,ls is set forth in the
communication, which. together with
obscure chirography and bad spelling.
makes its understanding Il matter of 40
inconsiderable time and labor.
Ii may be- said in this connection that
neither the president nor Mrs. Cleve-
land is even aware of the existence of
these letters. They are opened by an
unromantic and unSentimentai clerk ut
the executive mansion, from whose
hands they fall into the waste basket
and are never heard of again.
The women who address Mrs. Cleve-
land furnish her with sugges-
tons us to the better method of
presenting Their claim to the president.
One of the plans which y peruSal of the
the letters Show thai all women hold N
common is for her to wait until Mr.,
Cleveland has had his slipper and then,
when he is enjoying aquiet smoke in the
parlor Is. q bring the matter to his at
tentiom Many of them tell her that
this is the hour of the day when 4 man
Is most aInenable to argument, and
that they (the VT ters) prefer this as the
safest time for presenting their own
requests,
The appl cants for pensions who
write to the president are. as has been
said, Old soldiers, who. like the
1Clll lI HllG u III ldil1ilN.
are sadly deficient in the principles of
even an elementary education. They
write. too, ma more vigorous style
than their helpmsets, and their lam
guage is sometimes of so robust II ma
ture that it frequently %provokes a smile.
For example, an Illinois man who adj
dresses tire president in Il letter re-
celyed to-day says:
'rThe pension officials tell me to grt
ceTToborative evidence from some Of
nav comrades. want to tell You that
it is Il hell Of 4 matter to get evidence
from mar who 90 into an action and
never GENE ont again and then he
continues by saving that Ii $ company
went into the ,iderneSS Il hundred
strong and III the en- OF the seven da. s
fight, there whrc but nine of the n"m-
Der who were left to tell the tale.
Sometimes the letters are written ky
children, who begin in this fashion:
"DEAR MIR. PRESIDENT: am II lit
tie girl only 10 Years of age My papa
does not know | am writing this let
ter. If he d d he would not permit it,
Then follows a pathetic tale of want
ana misery, touching enough in its SIM
pie style of treatm n, but rendered
duIbl, 80 by the fact OF the writer's
youth and innocence.
Several months ago one of these
touching miss YES CHANGED to reach the
presidents eve. Its simple pleading
touched Il symHathet C cord in the pres
ident'S heart. The tile miss begged
the retealiop Of her father. Il republic
can, on the board OF medical examiners
u the New England town in which
their homa was located. She sail he
WAS very old and d ing of an incurable
disease. The position paid Inn L salt
~ OF about $1,000 a year. and i'll view
CT the fact that he could no longer prlc-
ticc his profession the foreyO NJ sum
was their only source of income. Tne
letter concluded naively in these words.
Papa must not know about this. 1t
must be Il secret between vOu and me.
Ifyou decide L keep him mark an y
on the back of the enclosed postal card
and then | W II know that you are go
ing to grant NV wish"
The pres dent sent the letter and in
closure to Comm SSioner of Pensions
Black. with this Endorsement:
If there are no charges against the
examiner in question you will oblige
me by retaining han in his present
position.
Gen. Black investigated the matter,
n found that the exam ner was not
an old man. bat, on the contrary. 4
lusty Young fellow Scarcely3 50 Years OF
age. and that so far from hav NO "a
little GIRL only 10 wears of age" he
was not even married.
The telegraph after this couldn't car
~ his dismissal quick enough to HIM.
and nee that time letters from little
girls who write without their papa's
knowledge are incontinently destroyed
rs fakes" pure and simple WasAimy-
Ton cor. NeW TOr5 Herald.
4 Huwrinm Society,".